Bitpiped

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Bitpipe that looked like such a nice piece of micro-marketing, I almost got goosebumps. It alerted me to an article on a somewhat obscure topic that is of EXTREME INTEREST to one of my clients. Excitedly, I clicked right through, filled in forms for not one but two online pubs that I swear I already subscribe to.

(And, boy, do I hate those forms where I have to admit that I have no IT spending authority, that I'm at best an influencer, that my budget is between $0 and $50K, and that my company has between 0 and 100 employees.  I want to see a little checkbox that says "Marketing Consultant" that lets me by-pass all those other questions. It never seems to have any impact on whether or not I get the free subscription. No matter how honestly I answer, I always get approved. And the publications are left with a non-buyer e-mail address in their database.)

Anyway, I was so eager to get this article of interest that I (almost) happily filled in the info.  Then what to my wondering eyes did appear?  An article that was a year and a half old that I'd already found by googling.

Naturally, there was also insult to injury. The place profiled in the article was a company where I and others of the Opinionated Marketers persuasion had once worked. And the person quoted extensively in the article was a fellow who was on the opposite side of an amazingly pitched battle that the Opinionated Marketers'  former manager had gotten himself engaged in (on the losing side). Seeing his name reminded me of the good old days when the "Man Your Battle Stations" alerts would kick in periodically. Talk about things I don't miss about the corporate world...

If Bitpipe is going to get me all jazzed up about some goodie, I truly don't mind if it turns into a bit of a stroll down memory lane. I just want it to be current news. In this day and age, something 18 months old doesn't generally qualify.